In Case Nobody Warns Chris Ekpenyong
By UbongAbasi Ise
In all sincerity, Engr. Chris
Ekpenyong is one of the few statesmen in Akwa Ibom State I have unreserved
respect for. Although it wasn’t so until my orientation of him changed dramatically
in December 2016 when I met him for the first time at his EEMJM Hotels and
Suites in Uyo. Before then I had heard many unconfirmed stories about Ukarakpa and
his daredevil dispositions and his tactics and antics while deputizing Governor
Victor Attah from May
29, 1999 to July 4, 2005 . As I was meeting him at the hotel’s gym on
that December morning, initially, I was expecting to confront a stroppy character
and a bully, so was the presupposed and conceived picture of him. But it turned
to be a reverse. Given the warmth and cordial manner I was treated at every
visit, I came to understanding that Chris Ekpenyong, first of all, is an Annang
man, and he is naturally predisposed to hospitable reception of visitors and
friends. Secondly, I learnt that he is a
reservoir of knowledge from which the present generation could tap. His
sagacity and strong sense of historical recollection were impressive. As a writer,
I must confess I automatically developed a striking fondness of this man
because of his alacrity and willingness to bare his mind. In my first interview
with him, I had asked him in the exact words, thus, “Soon, we are entering 2017, and there would be some political
alignments and realignments. There would be permutations here and there. So
Your Excellency, how do you prepare as a politician and a statesman towards 2019
elections?
His response? Here it goes: “I am not contesting for any
political office. I am not contesting so what do you want me to prepare for…?”
He queried empathetically, and then chuckled. I instantaneously came to
conclusion that his self-abnegation of political interest meant his active life
in politics had come to an end. A year and several months later, following
strange permutations in Akwa Ibom political landscape, Engr. Chris Ekpenyong
was pressurized willy-nilly by the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, to compete
the Akwa Ibom Northwest (Ikot Ekpene) Senatorial seat with Senator Godswill
Akpabio, who almost went into the elections year unopposed. It seemed
politicians of Annang extraction were disinclined to splurge their hard-earned
resources on any hopeless contest involving Akpabio given his ebullience and increasing
popularity and massive base of followership, especially, after joining the broom-wielding
party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, on August 8, 2018. The
Akpabio-Ekpenyong contestation was at first a farcical joke, until water rose
to the neck level, on February 23, 2019.
Ordinarily, I would have found enough justifications
to have a soft spot for former deputy governor Chris Ekpenyong as a result of
excellent past interpersonal relationship. After all, between him and Senator
Akpabio, none of them is more Annang than the other. All of them have equal
rights under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to aspire for
Ikot Ekpene Senatorial seat. But at this point in time when a minority state
like Akwa Ibom is in the quest of forging a strong front in the national
politics, it becomes impolitic for any component of the state to just go for
any option. Any choice of candidate ought to pass utilitarianism theory. For
example, Akpabio’s political party, APC, being the ruling party in Nigeria
today, can serve as a veritable vehicle that could link the minority state of
ours to the heart of the Nigerian politics while Ekpenyong’s PDP is clearly
losing ground by the day at the centre. Secondly, a reelected Akpabio under the
platform of the ruling APC might have a shot at the Senate Presidency, that is,
being a second-timer. As we are aware, a place of a Senate President is a major
influence in the sharing and distribution of national positions, projects and
programmes, and this means that he who holds the knife’s handle determines the share.
And this is the position Ekpenyong is highly disadvantaged because his party,
being the minority, is automatically shut out from contention. Therefore, the
foregoing could explain why I naturally and sincerely have to look above
individual interests and support the cause that would have utilitarian edge and
bring ultimate good to Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District and Akwa Ibom State in
general.
The claim that the emergence of Chris Ekpenyong is
the wish of the majority of the Ikot Ekpene Senatorial district constituents could
largely be superficial. What would the senatorial district gain in the
representation of a first-time lawmaker who is running on a parallel political
platform to that controlling the center? Are the majority of the constituents
so parochial, narrow-minded and myopic not to have seen the gains associating
with Senator Akpabio’s reelection? Are there some unseen fingers working behind
the scene for some ulterior interests that have nothing to do with the
collective aspiration of Annang people and by extension, the Ikot Ekpene
Senatorial District? Is Akpabio’s setback a case of a stolen mandate? If it is
exactly a narrative of forfeited mandate, what might be the consequence starring
at all of us?
The price for a stolen mandate can be very deadly.
Let’s recall what happened in Ondo State in 1983. Obafemi Awolowo was a cult
figure in the West with large following across all strata of Yoruba society. Governor
Adekunle Ajasin, one of the Awolowo’s anointed candidates in the West, was running
for a re-election under the umbrella of the UPN. His deputy, Akinwole Omoboriowo,
eyeing the same governorship position, had defected to NPN so that he would
have a chance of contesting against his principal. At the election, Ajasin had
a clear lead, but the NPN at the centre, with intention of taking the state
from the UPN, had falsified the result and put Omoboriowo in a clear lead as
the result was being announced. The Yoruba saw this as a humiliation of Awolowo.
The widespread protests that greeted the announcement of Omoboriowo turned the
state into a theatre of war. Over 82 were killed. The house of NPN chieftain,
Chief S.A. Akerele, was razed and leveled to the ground. At the end, Omoboriowo
was driven out of the state and he spent some time in exile. This is a story of
stolen mandate. The savoury side of the story is that, at the end, Adekunle
Ajasin had regained his mandate in the court despite initial announcement to
his disfavor.
We have heard the story of how the figures were
manipulated against Senator Godswill Akpabio in the February 23 senatorial
election. The INEC accredited observers under the aegis of Coalition of
Election Observers in Akwa Ibom State had made some confessions through a press
conference they organized few days after the announcement of Chris Ekpenyong as
the winner of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial election. According to the coordinator of
the coalition, Mr. Luke Okonu, the election results announced by the Presiding
Officers, POs, in Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District had APC emerging winner with
large margin but it turned out to be that the results announced by INEC were in
variance with the true state of the affairs. “Election announced by POs in the
area had APC as the winner with large margin. If forensic test is carried out
on the election by Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District and other local government
areas in the state, it will be confirmed that results announced by INEC does
not reflect the true state of affairs of the exercise,” the coordinator had said.
Following this, Dr. Chris Akpan, the Akwa Ibom State former Commission for Rural Development, and the
Director General of Godswill Akpabio Campaign Oranization, GACO, in an
interaction with The Sensor, said
Senator Akpabio was contesting against the combined forces of Mike Igini, Akwa
Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner; the Akwa Ibom State Government
apparatus; and the “electoral inconsequential” Chris Ekpenyong of the PDP in
which the former state governor still emerged tops at the end of the day.
The former commissioner said
he was able to collect the results held in all the wards and the 10 local
government areas in Ekpene Senatorial District that all indicated that Senator
Godswill Akpabio did not only emerge victorious but has his opponent, Engr.
Chris Ekpenyong of the PDP as a very distant seconder.
Was it that Akpabio did not
touch the lives of his constituents in his first tenure? Chris Akpan had noted
that Akpabio has left unprecedented record in his first term as he attracted
over 86 projects across the 10 local government areas in Ikot Ekpene Senatorial
district as well as several empowerment projects.
He noted that “lack of
jubilation following the misguided announcement of Chris Ekpenyong as a winner
and the tension hanging like a blanket over the senatorial district showed that
the announcement was made against the will of the people.”
 |
| Dr. Chris Akpan |
Again, is
this a case of stolen mandate which could be proven cataclysmic? Or, if Senator
Akpabio had performed so much, then why the choice of Chris Ekpenyong? Whatever
the response might be, it is time to avert any situation that might have led to
the orgy of violence in the state. An International Crisis Group, ReliefWeb.Int,
which has been the leading online source for reliable
and timely humanitarian information on global crises and disasters since 1996,
had published a report on 21st December 2018 and named Akwa Ibom State amongst
the six states with the high risks of violence associated with the 2019
elections. Others include Rivers, Kaduna,
Kano, Plateau and Adamawa. We had noticed the recent bloodbath in Rivers and
Kaduna.
Now, there
are some faceless individuals speaking in hush voices that Annang people
doesn’t appreciate what is valuable, hence their abandonment of Akpabio at the
time they could have gained immensely
from this rare gem and political asset. Others said the Annang people have been
beguiled or manipulated by the Ibibio proper to destroy their political
strength as forged by Akpabio. It seems, with the setback of Akpabio, the old
story of Annang-Ibibio rivalry has been revived. It seems the tribal battle for
supremacy has just begun.
In case nobody warns Engr.
Chris Ekpenyong, if he is a misrepresentation of the collective will of his
people and a tool used by some misguided elements in the position of power to
advance shameful tribal enmity and war of supremacy, then he is definitely going
to be viewed as a villain by his own people. As the mandate tussle is heading
to court, is it not more honorable for Ekpeyong not to defend the mandate that
was established on faulty ground?
Yes I am UbongAbasi Ise. For comment, send SMS to 08189914609 | ubongabasiise@gmail.com
©The Sensor Newspaper
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